>
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20080624/COLUMNS/896085147/1057 > By SANDY LAHMANN
> When I was teaching special education, I also coached Special Olympics. I
> used to take our athletes to the regional Special Olympics Winter Games.
> Local reporters came as well and generally would print a photo in the
> local paper. Predictably, the athletes that looked the most disabled,
> those who used wheelchairs or those with Down Syndrome, were the ones who
> got their pictures in the paper. Kids who looked "normal" never got their
> pictures in the paper.
> Our society is stuck with an image in our minds of what a disability looks
> like. Then we rush to aid all those that look disabled.
> What about people with hidden disabilities? People with heart disease,
> liver or kidney disease, respiratory illness, asthma, cancer, AIDS,
> diabetes, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, arthritis,
> epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, and Crohn's disease, to
> name a few, often look "normal" but are in need of accommodations as much
> as a person who uses a wheelchair.
> Unfortunately, for those with hidden disabilities, accommodations are not
> always forthcoming. They face frequent discrimination in their jobs and in
> the community simply because they don't look disabled enough.
> An individual with heart disease may look "normal" but may be totally
> unable to walk any distance. Yet when they use their disabled parking
> permit they are often met with suspicion and shame. Others decide they
> don't look disabled enough and think they shouldn't be parking in disabled
> parking spots.
> Persons with hidden disabilities are often seen as "lazy" or as "faking
> it". They don't have one of the socially acceptable disabilities and
> discrimination results.
> The two most challenging symptoms of my multiple sclerosis are fatigue and
> pain.
> However, in many people's minds fatigue and pain don't count as a
> disability. I've had people say to me, "Oh, I have that."
> Begging your pardon, but you don't have that. This fatigue is not the "I'm
> tired. I've been working overtime and I haven't gotten enough sleep," kind
> of fatigue. I'm talking about the type of fatigue that's "I've gotten
> enough sleep, I haven't hardly done anything, yet I feel like I've been
> run over by a Mack truck, I'm literally too exhausted to lift my arms, and
> my brain has literally shut down."
> This level of fatigue can be experienced by those with multiple sclerosis,
> kidney disease, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, again
> to name a few. It destroys your life and makes normal activities
> impossible. I can't tell you how discouraging it is to try to describe
> this type of disability to someone and then have that person say, "Oh, I
> have that."
> Along the same lines, much discrimination occurs against people who
> experience a disability but don’t have a clear cut diagnosis. The bad news
> is that medical science is nowhere near keeping up with disabling
> conditions. There are many, many people out there who experience disabling
> symptoms but doctors have no clue what's going on.
> As a special education teacher, I had many students who were born with
> mobility impairments or cognitive impairments but who never received an
> official diagnosis. Just because doctors don't know what is causing the
> disabling symptom, doesn't mean the disabling symptom does not exist.
> Many times people ask "When were you diagnosed?" That question is
> irrelevant. The question should be "When did you experience your first
> symptoms?"
> Once again, it boils down to not making assumptions. Don't always think
> you know everything there is to know. Make an effort to get to know people
> with disabilities, including those with hidden disabilities, and be open
> to learning about what they are experiencing.
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